Start a Woodworking Business from Nothing (Simple Strategy)

I'm going to give you 12 tips on how to grow a woodworking business from zero if I was doing it over this is what I would do let's go I had barely anything when we started I borrowed a circular saw and two drills and I had $100 to my name and I started building stuff with that I've learned a lot over the last seven years let me tell you about it tip number one where do you start well you start with what you got cuz I started with a bar I told the story a bunch of times started with two drills and a circular saw that were all three borrowed from family members I didn't have any tools to do anything with I had a I did have a square and a tape measure but I didn't have none of the tools that I needed to cut wood and put it together cuz that's as simple example of woodworking as you'll ever get that's what I needed I saw these chair plans on the internet I was goofing around on the internet one day and I saw this outdoor chair set from J Bates with free plans I thought I can make that and I made those I set them up I was going to sell them my wife come home she saw him she's like I want them I said no I want to sell them we had $100 to her name at that point Point well less than that cuz I'd bought the two before to build the chairs and so she helped me stage it up right here in this garage matter of fact it's probably right here where this workbench is setting we put this chair and outdoor table set on a rug she put pillows in the chair maybe a drink on the table took some photos those things sold like that if she hadn't staged them up cuz I didn't know about staging she did if she hadn't staged those up properly they they would have never sold or they would take months to sell I sold those we sold those we repeating the process I went went and bought more material made more chairs and then that created the process so the best number one tip I can give you is start with what you got if you have to borrow tools go borrow some tools if you have to go to the pawn shop and Bor buy a circular saw and a drill it's really all you need some screws and some glue and a drill and a circuit saw we in the tape measure like we're talking less than a 100 bucks worth of of actual tools to get started Woodworking and then you can go from there but the main main thing is just start because if you don't start you'll never get [Music] there number two tip I can give you on growing a woodworking business from zero is what I wish I would have done I wish I'd have had a a goal and a plan uh written down and said this is what we're going to do over the next X months so that we can get to where we want to go because I didn't do that I didn't have a plan I was just throwing things against the wall to see if they was sticks some things sold some things didn't and so it's very difficult to to trudge through that with a plan which is why we come up with the Woodworkers Chronicle this is a business plan and customer order book designed specifically for Woodworkers it is massively powerful when you write down your goals and your dreams of your business for instance if I was starting from zero this is kind of a mock plan that I would come up with what are your dream goals my dream is to work for myself in my own business doing things I want to do on my time how awesome is that so that's the goal that's the dream that's is the ultimate thing that I want so now we got to reverse engineer how are we going to get to that end goal in mind or the dream goal right so we're going to start with a 3mon six Monon one year and threeyear goals where do I want to be in three years I want to be full-time in three years so now reverse engineer to that back well where do I need to be at one year Well I want to have $220,000 in Revenue the the first year after the first year $220,000 in sales that could be significant but that also gives us a little bit of a higher goal to to shoot to right so we're shooting for the moon if we land them on the stars or whatever you're still succeeded that kind of idea it's a lofty goal but we're going for that goal so then back that up 6 months where we going to be at at 6 months I want to have a steady income stream for my woodworking business so I've got steady customers coming in after 6 months I'm constantly making money after 6 months and I know I'm starting to figure out what products are selling in my area then you back that up to the three-month goal I want to have $2,000 in 3 months so then we're got to go from $2,000 all the way to $20,000 in that year but things scale faster once you start figuring things out so I know that it's going to take me a few months to get everything rolling find out the products my customers Etc so that's where I want to be in 3 months it's also important to know why you're creating things what you do now to earn a living what's your dream way of earning a living what impact do you want to have on your customers because there's something very powerful about knowing your why it just when once you understand why you're doing things you are driven more and and more and more to continue to do that so that you can achieve your [Music] dream tip number three is love what you build because if you get into a situation where you don't like building a certain product then you're going to be disgruntled with it you're not going to have fun it's just going to be monotonous you're just like oh man not another order of one of those you know time things I've been there there's been a couple of products I was like I really don't like building those but then there's some products you really enjoy building building now when you first start you may have to build some of those I don't really like this one but it's bringing in good income that's a little bit different if it's just not worth it as far as time and effort goes just kind of push that to the side sometimes you have to cut things loose to grow the business we've done that before we had a really good seller and I knew that it was just taking up so much time that if I let it go it was our stove covers if I let those go I could focus on other things so just make sure you enjoy what you're doing because if this is your dream job and this is your your dream goal to make this your retirement income or make this a full-time income before you retire or just have part-time income you really do want to enjoy being in the shop it shouldn't be something you don't look forward to because if you're dreading going to the shop then it's just not it's going to be the same thing as if you're dreading to going into work now you just have a different place you go and you still dread so make sure you enjoy what you're building and some people just love building stuff it doesn't matter what it is if they can smell the sawdust they're perfectly happy and if that's you that's awesome [Music] tip number four I wish somebody would have told me this I probably knew it but nobody told me takes time it takes a long time to build a business without a plan which is why we like to plan I'll give you some sample business plans as well but it takes time you're running a marathon not a Sprint I wanted everything now now now I still do I still like I want this I want this I want this and it's not happening so we get impatient it's just human nature we're very impatient just know that it takes time to build things and to figure out where you're going and what products you're going to sell who your Target customer is it just takes time so be patient and I want you to know it's okay if things aren't um going at the speed you think they should just give it time as long as you're moving forward as long as you're still making sales as long as you're still making profits on your products it's okay you're going to be [Music] okay tip number five is don't get overzealous on wanting to buy certain tools that you really don't need for instance maybe you don't need the Domino maybe maybe you don't need the fancy sander yet maybe you're getting by with what you got you're taking those extra profits that you're making and you're putting those back into tools you actually need maybe you need a better table saw cuz those are needed in certain cases maybe you need a more accurate and safer miter saw maybe you need a track saw because you're cutting a bunch of plywood and you could do without those other tools that maybe you don't need maybe you don't need the upgraded sander the sander you have now is working fine you don't need the festival Domino because you're getting by with doing your standard Morse inten or pocket hole jig or whatever you've got that's working so just kind of start really thinking about do I need this tool at this point because I've been guilty of buying stuff I really didn't need at the time I wasn't going to use much matter of fact there's tools that I bought that I've used a couple times and then they just sit on the Shelf it's a waste of money and when you're trying to build a business the last thing you want to do is waste money so really evaluate if you need the tool or not tip number six is don't trust anyone what does that mean take a deposit if you're making commission pieces if somebody wants you to build a table or a custom flag or a custom cutting board anything that's custom to that person you have to take a deposit I took 50% down but I didn't do it at first when I first started I didn't take any deposits and I had a custom flag order for a fellow police officer at the time I made this custom flag and then when it come time for him to actually come pick it up and buy it he backed out he's like I I don't want that now I was like so now I'm stuck with this flag it kind of ruins the relationship because now I got burned by this person so it's I don't care if they're friends I don't care if they're family I don't care if they're co-workers just say hey my policy is to take a 50% deposit that helps cover me that helps cover you I'm going to you pay this deposit you know that I'm going to work on this product I get the deposit so you know that I know that I at least have my materials covered if you change your mind later because I'm fixing to start working on this and when I took a deposit I put them on the schedule because that's another added bonus you know I'm booked for four weeks out if you want on the schedule you give me the deposit you'll be third in line and I'll be starting on your project on about this date and that really does help things and then that deposit helps cover some of the material as well as some of your time if they do back [Music] out tip number seven is be risky cautious I I think there's there's healthy risks taking when you're starting a business uh when you maybe take that extra little bit of a leap to buy the tool that you think you need or if you take that little leap to go after a product or a project that's a little outside your comfort zone there's some risk there that I think's healthy but I've seen people who get into Woodworking and they love it so much and they think I'm going to make a full-time job out of this so they go out and buy all the tools they think they need and then they quit their full-time job without ever establishing products or customers in The Woodworking business it's it's very risky to do that because now if you don't have an income Source coming in and then you go and start a full-time business that's going to require money to run that's very scary I like to start part-time business model like I did and then go full-time because that gives you uh an Avenue to start realizing what type of products you're going to sell who your actual customer is and how you can best serve that customer and then you can start basically building a nice income coming in from those customers before you leave your full-time job but it's also some risk involved leaving giv a full-time job at any point but it's a healthy risk if you already have customers and product [Music] Revenue tip number eight business plans business licenses llc's accounting it's so confusing right and that's one thing I was so confused about when I first started I didn't have a business plan we're going to start with that every business should have a plan and it doesn't have to be like super detailed you just kind of have to have a general idea of who you are and who your customers are it's pretty much what a business plan is I'm going to pop up two business plans that I come up with as a sample one's very simple and one is a little more detailed this is in our sa startups community at sa startups.com this is kind of a general idea of kind of what you're going to do so as an identity your company will have an identity mine's going to be two4 wood company manufacturers high quality handmade Furniture using highest quality woods and finishes that's my identity that's who we are it's what we do the problem because you always need to solve a customer's problem and the problem we're solving is that the customer is looking for Unique high quality furniture that will last unlike the particle board mess that they're buying at these local stores that are breaking that when they set a cup on it it all bubbles up you know what I'm talking about like it's just nonsense but we're going to provide them a nice nice piece of furniture that they not able to get at these chain stores we're going to have a solution for that problem right here our handbuilt furniture is made from solid woods and it's built to last a lifetime doesn't matter if it's hardwood Pine I built so much stuff out of pine y'all still living is still in my house still works fine don't let them lie to you Pine is fine we're going to have a target market we're going to set up our revenue streams like this is kind of an overview of what we really want or kind of the direction of the company there's a more advanced one there as well if you want to kind of dig a little deeper into it because you know you may want to really dive down into who your customer really is and find how you're going to sell in person and online how you going to basically create Revenue there's a lot of different stuff there that you can really dive into but be really cautious that you don't get the paralysis by analysis as they say because you can start looking at all the stuff and get kind of freaked out and a little like oh man that's too much I can't do that like I don't even I don't have any business experience I didn't either I'm telling you right now a simple business plan I really think you should start with a simple one that'll get you kind of pointed in the right direction tip number nine how do you find customers where are the customers because when you start you're like who am I going to sell this to I just built this or I want to build this who's going to buy it what I did was post it on Facebook it's still viable Facebook Marketplace your Facebook page tell friends and family about it the one of the biggest pieces of advice I ever got in business was ask for the sale because if you don't ask for the sale they're never going to know that you're selling stuff it's just just makes sense right so if you have products I know make a wood sign uh if you've seen them on YouTube they make signs they were here in the shop made me a custom watch charger they take their custom signs with them like just out and about they'll like walk into Walmart with hanging people say where'd you get that sign we made it there you go shake your hand introduce yourself hey we make these signs that is fantastic I'm not telling you to walk around Walmart with a cutting board but if it's awesome you never know you know but you can just like ask for the sale a lot of people go into real estate offices we've talked about that they go in they shake the real estate's hand they give them a cutting board say hey I make these custom cutting boards I would love to provide these for your clients at ex whatever the price like we could talk about price however you want to do that but just introduce yourself to the local businesses you can go into doctor's office and you'll offer to build a coffee table next time you're to get in your checkup say hey Doc man I can make you an awesome coffee table for your lobby to put those magazines on that one you got out there's kind of busted looking doesn't really look all that great you know there's different Avenues a friend of mine goes to the steakhous he's eating the steak they got the the steak on the cutting Bo The Cutting Bo looks like trash and he tells it he said can I talk to the manager manager comes out hey I make cutting boards this one doesn't look good and this is your business like it would look better if I made it he I'll bring you a sample brings him a sample dude like orders like eight on the spot so he makes him eight and then he goes back a month or two later he's like hey these are starting to get kind of cut up I can refinish these put a new finish on and they'll look good as new for X dollar per every quarter or whatever it is I think it's every quarter he goes back once a quarter get collects his cutting boards now the steakhouse is buying more and more cutting boards that he just keeps refinishing this is awesome awesome recurring Revenue there's so many opportunities to make money with local businesses all you have to do is go in and introduce yourself start creatively thinking about what problem you can solve for them like the the options are endless there for inperson sales when you first start out it's a little it's a little intimidating to try to sell something especially if you've never sold anything so I always recommend finding one customer one person is all you need to buy your one product especially if it's a they're want to make something a little custom maybe the paint's a little custom maybe the size is a little custom than what you're normally making or if you've never made it before I've done a bunch of that but that's going to give you the opportunity to get experience working with a customer making a custom piece and then they're going to be so happy with it and they're going to put it in their house friends family is going to come over man that's beautiful where'd you get that they're going to tell them about you our main income from local sales was always always always Word of Mouth sales people would tell hey so and so buil me this buil me this it's it's going to start snowballing and you're start getting more orders and more orders if you make something really nice really custom for somebody they're going to tell others about it because they're proud of it they're going to post it on their social media they're going to tag you it's going to be awesome but you have to focus on that one customer first once you get the one customer you kind of get a general idea of who they are and you can start marketing basically toward that same similar style person now let's talk about online sales because that is a massive Marketplace like millions of people are online looking for products right but how do you get to that one customer that you really want to sell to it can be kind of difficult I highly recommend Facebook Facebook Marketplace it's still viable today we'll talk about that in a minute how to get how to get the most out of that Etsy is also a good platform but Etsy takes time it's a marathon there if you're going to set up an Etsy store understand it may take you a few months to get one sale it took me like 3 months to get a sale on there and then a couple of weeks later I got another sale it trickled in then it really did start snowballing um just a quick overview of etsy if you do start an Etsy store which I highly recommend if you're making shippable products put a couple of products on there to start with about two and then like 3 4 days later put another product on there 3 4 days later put another product on there and what I did was I offered stove covers I would build one stove cover I would sell it somebody with say hey can you make this in this color yep sure can I would make it in that color and then I would take more photos of that before I shipped it because that would give me another option and I would put that as it's on listing dark walnut stove cover then I would put the special Walnut stove cover and then the white stove cover and then the distress stove cover so I had multiples as I built the business and I got more and more custom orders I would just retake those photos so do that with anything that you're selling if somebody orderers something custom take photos of it put that as a different list it's just a good way to add to your listings and that will grow your Etsy store because Etsy really likes for you to have an active store in other words you're on there adding new products you're interacting with your customers all that stuff so that's really a good way to kind of jump start that Etsy also you can build your own websit very easy I have a stepbystep guide video you can go watch I'll link in the description it's super easy to set up a website and get you can set up your own e-commerce store it's it's really really easy it's intimidating at first but it's actually easy to do when you get a website though Google's not just going to start sending people to your website it's just not how it works you have to send your own traffic there especially at first because you're not going to rank in search or you're not going to get shown in searches what you need to do is I would put on my business cards and when you hand those out so they can go to your website especially if you're talking to customers and you can also plug it on your social media you can show a product and say you can buy this on my website www. towood company.com and then you can send them to that website to be able to buy the Products off of your social media so having a website's a really good option it's not mandatory when you first start it's just nice to have tip number 11 when I first started I had zero business experience I had no idea how to Market anything I had no idea how to make take photos of products I had no idea how to plan a business run a business how am I going to find customers I had nothing like I knew nothing and over the years my wife tried trial and error have figured out what works and what don't for us and with that we wanted to be able to figure out how to give that back in a meaningful way with a group a group of like-minded individuals to push them to grow in their business so we started what we're calling SAA startups.com you can go there and check it out in this online community you get access to 14 hours of video content that teaches you how to build a brand how to sell online how to sell on Etsy how to sell on Facebook Marketplace how to take proper photos some advanced stuff and some basic stuff we're going to walk you through it from the basics all the way through the Advance on how to grow a woodworking business in your area you also get access to group coaching that's happening twice every month live group coaching where you get your questions answered we can all kind of figure things out together also there's a community there of like-minded Woodworkers who are building their own businesses who can answer questions as well what's working in their area what's not you can bounce ideas off of basically creating a mastermind of people who want to grow a woodworking business check us out if see if it's right for you this is a 30-day money back guarantee so if you don't like it you can bounce and you'll be out nothing but saw startups.com tip number 12 I'm a Dream Chaser and I'm a big dreamer I have big goals and Big Dreams and I've always been a dreamer my dad was always a dreamer he dreamed big don't be afraid to dream big chase it Chase it with everything you got sometimes it's going to suck sometimes it's going going to not be fun but overall your big dream goal should stay at the Forefront of your mind and you should be chasing that dream and it's going to take work the tip is it's going to take work it's not going to be easy nobody's going to give you a magic peel or a magic potion that says bam you're a full-time business owner now it takes time to grow things and it's hard it's hard work but it's fun work when it's yours right so if you can build something that's yours that you and your family can do or just you can do especially if you just want to do do it part-time or if you want to take it fulltime or if this is going to be your retirement income it's possible I'm telling you it's possible if you work at it and if you take the right steps and you plan correctly I hope this video has been helpful for you to be able to push you in the right direction to start your own woodworking business or to grow it to where you need it to go if you like this video there's an older video clean shaving but I do tell you how to build an Etsy store all that's still relevant click that box to get you the big old virtual fistbump or you can check out that video pretty cool W you

Channel: 731 Woodworks

Views: 181,012

Keywords: how to price woodworking, how to grow a woodworking business, woodworking 2024, best woodworking advice, woodworking tips and tricks, how to sell woodworking projects, woodworking projects that sell, beginner woodworking projects, woodworking business ideas, woodworking business tips, growing a business, tips to grow a business, business mistakes to avoid

Id: AgnSfUoEsIw

Length: 21min 29sec (1289 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 24 2024